Vampire$

ghost they could see her frenzy, her hunger, her thirst.

Twice, Felix felt sure he could see the fangs.

Jack Crow leaned forward abruptly and closed the elevator door and started it up and growled, “Here we go, troops! Rock and roll.”

But everyone knew, everyone heard the elevator. Everyone knew what was coming up to see them.

And the phone stopped ringing and the screens showed empty quiet cells and within seconds the shrieks of pain and anger began to echo from inside the elevator cage. The poison, the drugs, were getting to her.

“Enjoy, bitch,” muttered Crow and he stood up away from the screens carrying his crossbow.

And that was it, then. That got Felix going at last, that sight of Jack Crow’s muscled hand gripping that crossbow and moving into position and then Felix was moving also, alongside Crow’s left flank and as he did so he noticed Cat up there, climbing atop the elevator cage holding his sack of gasoline-filled balloons and Felix remembered standing there earlier amidst the acetylene sparks when Carl had cut that hole in the top of the elevator car itself so that Cat could… could what?

And Felix’s mind swirled with the remembered thought that Cat was supposed to throw his little water-gas balloons down into that bloody elevator along with a flare! to drive the vampires out into their killing area and that was insane, that was madness and Felix’s thoughts screamed, I’ve got to get away from these people!

But all he did then was draw one of the Brownings and that’s when they began to hear the reverberations from the elevator shaft, the din of pounding and screeching and banging and Felix thought, My God! She’s going to tear that elevator apart!

Then suddenly, quiet. No banging. No horrible echoing screams, just the rumble of the car as it rose the last few feet and stopped.

The elevator door did not open.

And it still didn’t open.

And then it tried, old circuits buzzing audibly and the metal groaning and it wouldn’t open..

And Felix and Jack found themselves over in front of the screens without thinking but there was nothing on them except shattered glass and blood everywhere, on the floors and the walls and they barely glanced at each other before moving back into position, weapons held high, and Crow called out, “Careful, people. Looks like she jammed it shut!”

And then he reached down for his little remote device Joplin had fashioned for him — it was on the floor about fifteen feet from the elevator — and that’s where they were. Felix and Crow standing together, when the elevators doors just blew off their moorings and crashed into them.

The door got Crow first, hitting him flat and flush on his right side and then spinning over his head like a flipping card and smacking Felix a glancing blow on the side of his head and as he went down he saw her streaking out of the elevator through the darkness and the room suddenly filled with dust and then he was flat on his back staring blankly at the glare of an overturned spotlight on the ceiling tiles past the edge of the crumpled elevator doors on top of him.

Then movement in the lights and sounds of shuffling feet and someone called out something to someone else and he lifted himself up, shoving the door off to one side with his gun hand and—

—and she was looking at him.

She was there, standing just in front of the elevator heaving for breath and glaring at him, and he saw her eyes arc and her lips spread back and he heard the hiss and the fangs came out and he knew he was dead, knew it, knew it, but it was so distant, somehow, like happening on a movie screen to someone else.

Should shoot her… Knew he should shoot her and he had the gun in his hand still but he couldn’t remember how to shoot but he raised the pistol anyway and she saw it and came at him, at him, at him.

And Father Adam’s crossbow went off and the huge bolt crunched through her back from just under her left shoulder and punched out through her right breast and she shrieked and leapt high into the air, spinning and shrieking… shrieking…

And then she was gone.

Where? Somewhere. Somewhere to the left maybe? She had moved so fast.

And he felt himself being jerked to his feet and he almost screamed thinking it was her but it was only Jack, standing there with blood on his cheek and looking at him.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

And Felix nodded and looked past him to Father Adam, who stood frozen and pale beside the deputy, holding an empty crossbow and staring at the vampire as she thumped toward him — My God! she could hardly move, she was skewered by that thing and it flopped as she tripped toward him and that clear, thick bile was pumping out around the shaft and the deputy lifted the sharp pike he carried but that wasn’t going to be enough and Felix shouldered Jack to the side and fired, a wild, frightened shot and hit her in the foot of all places, right in the instep of her left foot and she howled and leapt and turned back toward him and he fired again and the bullet seemed to take a chunk off the top of her left shoulder and more of that stuff bubbled out through the fabric of her…

Of her blouse? Of her Mexican peasant blouse, white with beautiful embroidery, and he looked at her at last, saw her as she really was with her deep rich eyes and plaintive whisper of pain…

Don’t you want me? Don’t you desire me and love me and want to take care of me?

And he did! He felt the molten pumping lust and wanted her alive and healthy and soft and tender in his arms…

And he dropped the gun to his side as she came toward him again and he was holding his arms out to receive her when the crossbow bolt jammed through her ribcage caught and she winced and he saw the fangs appear suddenly and he shot her three times through the chest.

And she howled and spat as the silver slugs slammed through her and she went straight down on her back, writhing and howling and spitting as the crossbow bolt twisted and torqued under her weight but then she was up immediately, up and moving, streaking, blurring white as she passed across in front of the elevator and the booking counter was in her way and she had to collide with it and when she did a chunk of formica topping the size of a chessboard all but exploded off of it but didn’t slow her down at all. She bounced off and disappeared down the hallway into the back of the jail by the offices and they heard the slamming and wailing and crashing as she searched for a way out and then there came a tremendous thundering concussion and the lights began to flicker.

“All right,” barked Jack when he saw the light. “Everybody out. Let’s go.”

The sound of his voice, habitually cool and authoritative, brought all of them around somewhat and they started for the door, except Felix who simply stood there and rocketed inside with that sweet exquisite memory of her soft eyes and yearning, tender…

“Felix,” barked Crow, “move your ass!”

Felix looked at him, at his hard face and hated his choices but knew he must obey and…

“Jack!” screamed Father Adam and there she was again, coming at them with the crossbow flopping gruesomely and the fangs out and glittering and Felix shot her again.

And again and again and again, hitting her dead square each time and she slammed back onto the floor with the first concussion but he just kept shooting at her, the bitch, walking right up to her and firing and firing into her and her body warped and arched with each slug and be enjoyed the revenge he was having on the filthy rotten — The automatic clicked empty in his hand and he automatically ejected the clip and reached for another and suddenly realized how goddamned close he’d walked up to her and again their eyes met and she was… hatred and horror and the things she was going to do to him!

And he started running back as she lurched up toward him and the second bolt, the one in Jack’s crossbow, the one with the cable on it, slammed dead center through her chest and saved Felix’s life and even over her wailing Felix could hear Jack barking at Joplin through the radio.

“Carl! Hit it!”